DD 

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iUBzlHf^LP 


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CULTURE  AND  WAR 

BY 

SIMON  NELSON  PATTEN 

Author  of  The  Neto  Basis  of  Ci'vilization,  Product  and 
ClimaXf  Ad-vent  Songs,  etc. 


NEW  YORK 

B.  W.  HUEBSCH 

1916 


Copyright,  1916,  by 
B.  W.  HUEBSCH 


r 


Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


CULTURE  AND   WAR 

Recently  an  American  girl  obtained 
entrance  to  one  of  the  best  circles  of  a  Ger- 
man city,  and  thought  it  her  duty  to  help 
others  of  her  race  to  gain  admittance  to  this 
group.  To  her  surprise  these  endeavors 
were  resented.  The  general  feeling  was 
best  expressed  by  a  young  Englishman,  who 
said  that  although  Germans  in  England 
would  "make  fools  of  themselves"  to  gain 
a  knowledge  of  English,  he  would  never 
make  a  fool  of  himself  to  understand  Ger- 
man. Controlled  by  this  sentiment,  he 
would  not  put  himself  in  a  position  where 
he  seemed  inferior  to  a  foreign  race,  and 
preferred  to  go  home  without  attaining  the 
real  object  of  his  quest.  This  may  be  a 
lofty  patriotism,  but  think  of  the  cost  in 
misunderstanding,  opposition  and  war.  A 
half  of  the  best  blood  of  the  English  may 
be    sacrificed    because    they   believe    they 


M122928 


;i'i\V'^;;;''CrjLTDuRE  and  war 

"make  fools  of  themselves"  if  they  attempt 
to  understand  what  the  German  wants.  My 
experience  with  American  students  return- 
ing recently  from  Germany  shows  them 
equally  irrational.  They  have  seen  the 
outside  of  Germany,  and  have  merely  a 
dictionary  knowledge  of  German  thought. 
They  can  talk  only  of  the  rudeness  of  of- 
ficers, of  the  pettiness  of  bureaucrats,  and 
of  the  debauchery  of  restaurant  life.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  our  papers  are  full  of  such 
stories,  and  that  we  are  rapidly  drifting 
into  a  state  of  opinion  that  makes  war  al- 
most a  certainty. 

The  element  that  has  made  the  present 
world  conflict  inevitable  is  not  the  clash  of 
arms,  then,  so  much  as  the  clash  of  ideals. 
At  this  moment  America  is  deciding 
whether  to  follow  the  way  of  Europe,  and 
become  involved  in  similar  struggle  be- 
cause we  are  victims  of  the  same  prejudices, 
or  to  go  the  way  of  peace  and  receive  the 
benefits  of  increased  prosperity.  Between 
these  alternatives  lies  our  only  choice. 
The  road  on  which  we  are  already  starting 
has  war  as  its  goal — ^war  even  more  grue- 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  3 

some  and  extensive  than  that  of  to-day. 
While  the  way  is  yet  open,  is  it  not  advis- 
able to  test  the  other  alternative  and  see  if 
centuries  of  degradation  and  misery  cannot 
be  avoided?  We  must  either  bluff,  blus- 
ter, prepare,  and  then  fight;  or  else  we  must 
seek  to  understand  our  possible  opponents 
and  come  into  accord  with  them  through 
mutual  concession.  This  latter  route, 
which  seems  so  easy  and  simple,  is  a  hard, 
perhaps  an  impossible  road,  for  the  Briton 
and  American  to  travel.  At  bottom,  we 
feel  a  contempt  for  other  races  and  ap- 
proach them  in  an  attitude  of  superiority 
that  evokes  opposition.  Even  conscien- 
tious attempts  to  interpret  the  thought  of 
Germany  frequently  take  the  form  of  an 
apology  couched  in  patronizing  language 
that  is  most  irritating  to  the  people  it  is  sup- 
posed to  defend.  Such  articles  do  not  help 
us  to  understand  the  modem  German,  or  to 
appreciate  his  philosophy.  Nor  does  the 
German  manifesto  signed  by  some  ninety 
professors  do  other  than  confuse  the  issue. 
The  real  consideration  is  not  how  these  pro- 
fessors write  for  foreign  consumption,  but 


4  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

how  they  talk  to  their  neighbors  and  schol- 
ars. This  is  what  we  must  find  out  if  we 
would  understand  the  German  mind,  and 
avoid  a  useless  wrangle  of  words  that  masks 
an  irreconcilable  conflict. 

Let  me  say  a  word  as  to  my  fitness  to  in- 
terpret the  thought  of  Germany.  Forty 
years  ago  I  began  my  university  work  there 
as  a  student,  and  by  accident  found  myself 
in  one  of  the  most  ardent  of  the  new  groups 
of  moderns.  At  that  time  the  ideas  now 
universally  held  were  only  to  be  found  in 
the  university  lecture  and  seminar.  I  saw 
Philosophy,  Literature,  Classicism,  and 
other  figures  of  the  dead  past  driven  out  of 
the  big  lecture-rooms  and  put  back  of  the 
staircase,  while  the  apostles  of  the  new  Ger- 
manism got  the  front  halls  and  the  govern- 
ment plums.  I  was  even  more  ardent  than 
my  fellows  for  the  new  culture,  and  before 
I  left  became  the  ^^Stammitglied"  in  a 
noted  seminar.  This  phase  of  the  modern 
spirit  was  a  religion  to  me  then,  and  for  a 
long  time  after  my  return.  Now,  however, 
I  feel  that  its  force  is  spent,  and  that  there 
is  a  beyond.     But  my  early  interest  is  in- 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  5 

dicative  of  my  fitness  to  state  in  English 
what  Germans  really  think  and  to  present 
the  cause  towards  which  their  devotion 
goes  out. 

The  prime  difficulty  that  faces  an  in- 
terpreter is  in  the  words  selected  to  convey 
strange  thoughts.  If  he  uses  the  diction- 
ary equivalent  of  German  words  some  ri- 
diculous doctrine  is  sure  to  appear.  If  he 
uses  the  English  equivalents,  the  diction- 
ary student  of  German  asks  who  said  such 
a  thing,  and  wins  a  sweeping  victory  be- 
cause there  is  no  one  from  whom  I  can 
quote.  German  modernism  has  never 
been  really  transformed  into  a  philosophy. 
It  is  merely  a  mode  of  thought  in  the  mak- 
ing. But  we  demand  a  philosophy,  and  I 
am  compelled  to  state  what  I  think  to  be 
the  interpretation,  and  must  use  formulae 
that  I  confess  I  have  never  seen  in  German. 
It  is  well,  in  any  case,  to  contrast  our 
thought  by  stating  German  ideas  in  terms 
that  parallel  English,  and  in  so  doing  it  is 
necessary  to  pick  from  the  English  lan- 
guage the  words  and  phrases  that  best  rep- 
resent the  essence  of  German  thinking. 


6  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

The  easy  entrance  to  German  thought  is 
not  through  Kant  and  Hegel,  but  by  way 
of  certain  expressions  that  everyone  uses  in 
Germany.  The  most  elementary  of  these 
is  the  contrast  of  Lebendig  (living)  and 
Starr  (dead).  "Lebendig"  is  a  sweet  mor- 
sel on  every  German's  lips,  and  represents 
all  that  he  cherishes.  But  when  he  says 
Starr  that  is  the  end  of  the  matter ;  the  dead 
must  bury  the  dead.  A  fairly  good  transla- 
tion of  this  contrast  would  be  dynamic  and 
static.  But  the  Lebendig  is  more  than 
dynamic.  It  means  also  growth,  concen- 
tration and  power.  The  living  grows,  and 
this  growth  incorporates  in  itself  other  ele- 
ments. It  thus  gains  in  power  and  be- 
comes as  it  grows  a  super  reality  that  in- 
corporates all  else  in  it.  The  minor  ele- 
ments are  reabsorbed  in  the  dominant  unit, 
and  live  again.  The  living  shows  its  life 
by  flowering,  while  the  dead  disappears  by 
disintegration.  While  any  growing  thing 
increases  its  dominance  it  is  to  be  admired 
— yes,  even  worshiped — but  if  it  ceases  to 
grow  or  weakens,  away  with  it;  it  is  Starr, 

But  the  doing  away  with  it  does  not  in- 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  7 

volve  any  lack  of  historical  appreciation. 
As  an  element  in  German  history  a  person 
or  a  movement  may  be  admired,  which 
from  a  cultural  view  may  be  dead.  An  in- 
discriminate admiration  of  all  the  past  cre- 
ates a  cheap  optimism,  and  yet  a  critical 
attitude  also  exists  that  separates  the  living 
elements  of  culture  from  the  honored 
wrecks  of  the  decaying  past.  My  teachers 
advised  me  to  study  philosophy  in  such 
glowing  terms  that  for  a  time  I  thought 
they  really  believed  philosophy  to  be  es- 
sential. But  later  I  found  they  only  feared 
that  in  my  enthusiasm  for  history,  and  eco- 
nomics, I  might  neglect  philosophy  so  much 
as  to  court  failure  in  my  final  examination. 
Philosophy,  in  their  opinion,  was  Starr. 
So  was  religion,  Hegel,  and  other  decaying 
disciplines  and  heroes.  One  of  my  profes- 
sors was  interested  in  building  a  new 
church,  and  did  much  to  arouse  interest  in 
the  project.  But  when  analyzed  his  utili- 
tarian purpose  was  threefold.  He  wanted 
a  building  of  great  architectural  beauty; 
he  desired  a  monument  to  commemorate 
the  valor  of  the  soldiers  who  fell  in  the  late 


8  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

war ;  and  finally  he  thought  a  church  would 
keep  servant  girls  from  stealing  spoons. 
The  Church  was  dead  to  him  for  every 
higher  end  than  teaching  humility  and  self- 
denial  to  the  serving  class. 

The  dead  from  this  view  is  not  to  be 
judged  as  good  or  bad,  nor  as  something  on 
which  ruthless  hands  are  to  be  laid.  There 
was  no  spirit  of  iconoclasm  nor  any  emo- 
tional antagonism  to  the  disappearing  ele- 
ments of  national  life.  Dead  meant 
merely  the  outliving  of  usefulness,  and  so 
opposition  to  further  evolution.  That 
which  does  not  accelerate  thought  and  life 
becomes  a  menace  to  further  growth.  To 
illustrate,  assume  that  a  locomotive  car- 
ries a  train  fifty  miles  an  hour.  We  hitch 
on  ten  older  engines  in  the  desire  to  go 
faster  still.  There  is  now  a  great  com- 
motion; the  smoke  and  the  flash  of  wheel 
appall;  but  with  all  the  noise  and  the 
grandeur  of  the  sight,  the  speed  is  less  than 
before.  The  new  engine  has  the  essential 
points  of  its  lumbering  predecessors  com- 
bined in  new  ways,  and  attains  results  that 
far  surpass  its  antiquated  rivals.     So  with 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  9 

a  sailing  boat  that  was  unrivaled  in  its  day; 
when  the  ocean  greyhound  appears,  the 
once  glorious  sails  are  a  hindrance  and 
must  be  displaced.  And  so  with  all  past 
deeds  and  ventures.  They  are  petty  and 
crude  when  compared  with  present  deeds 
and  thoughts  as  expressed  by  even  ordinary 
men.  The  super  pulse  carries  all  along 
with  a  speed  that  old  vehicles  cannot  at- 
tain. We  hitch  our  Platos,  our  Kants,  our 
Shakespeares,  our  Goethes,  and  our  Emer- 
sons  to  our  trains,  with  much  glare,  con- 
fusion and  noise;  but  neither  the  intensity 
of  life  nor  its  moral  tone  is  increased.  To- 
day's motives  and  to-day's  vitality  fed  on 
present  events  raise  us  higher  than  the  level 
to  which  past  heroes  rose.  The  content  of 
their  thought  is  but  a  part  of  our  intel- 
lectual atmosphere.  It  has  more  force  as 
an  element  of  the  social  pulse  than  as  an 
isolated  whole,  grand  though  that  whole 
may  be.  To  study  literature  is  often  to 
lose  touch  with  life  and  to  get  lost  in  the 
maze  of  imperfection  that  hangs  about  any 
great  but  dead  work.  Nothing  is  worth 
keeping  that  does  not  live  in  the  soul  of  the 


10  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

people.    Would  we  had  a  Kaiser  to  burn 
libraries  once  a  century  1 

In  English  thought  the  choice  is  not  with 
the  living  but  with  the  dead.  Its  phi- 
losophy is  best  expressed  by  Herbert  Spen- 
cer who  says  Evolution  is  the  integration 
of  matter  and  the  dissipation  of  motion. 
Matter  is  the  symbol  of  the  dead;  motion 
that  of  living.  Our  philosophy  therefore 
demands  that  life  should  continually  run 
down;  force  is  dissipated  while  dead  mat- 
ter accumulates  in  great  masses.  A  favor- 
ite picture  is  the  final  disappearance  of 
man,  the  ruin  of  civilization,  and  the  cool- 
ing off  of  the  sun.  This  with  us  is  not  pes- 
simism, or  at  least  we  think  it  is  not  be- 
cause we  premise  another  world  where  the 
failure  of  this  life  gets  its  proper  reward. 
I  do  not  care  to  question  this  philosophy, 
but  merely  to  contrast  it  with  the  German. 
There  the  dead  is  dissolving,  disappearing, 
and  disintegrating,  while  life  is  concen- 
trating, growing,  evolving,  and  hence  dom- 
inating. Change,  Spencer  tells  us,  is  the 
diffusion  of  motion,  and  hence  the  destruc- 
tion of  life,  at  least  the  higher  forms  of 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  ii 

life.  The  German  would  say  that  change 
means  the  concentration  and  the  elevation 
of  the  living,  and  the  acceleration  of  their 
activity. 

Such  is  the  essence  of  the  new  German 
philosophy.     There  is  a  more  abstract  way 
of  entering  the  same  field  that  may  help 
some  readers.     Reality  is  a  flow,  or  better 
stated,  a  pulse.    We  do  not  see  dead  matter 
as  Spencer  assumes,  but  the  pulse  in  which 
we  for  the  moment  are  incorporated.     This 
pulse    has    antecedents    and    consequents 
which  we  get  at  by  reasoning.     When  we 
judge  the  pulse  by  what  is  to  follow  we 
have  a  philosophy  of  ends  out  of  which  our 
morality  grows.     The  good  is  that  which 
harmonizes  with  some  end.     But  ends  can 
be  assumed  worthy  only  as  to-morrow  is 
like  to-day  and  yesterday.     A  philosophy 
of  ends  thus  assumes  a  changeless,  static 
world;  and  hence  a  dead  world,  for  life, 
growth  and  change  are  synonymous  terms. 
A  live  world  can  have  no  philosophy  of 
ends.     Life    merely    grows,    continuously, 
and  its  ultimate  measure  is  that  it  grows. 
But  growth  also  means  concentration  and 


12  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

acceleration;  and  hence  a  super  reality 
must  all  the  while  be  emerging  that  ab- 
sorbs every  minor  reality  into  itself,  caus- 
ing everything  to  relive  and  blossom  in  its 
new  subordination.  The  lower  self  thus 
attains  its  maximum  advantage,  not  by  set- 
ting up  ends  for  individual  action  and 
moral  rules  for  their  attainment,  but  by  ab- 
sorption in  the  super  reality,  and  partici- 
pation in  its  growth. 

This  bit  of  philosophizing  is  only  pre- 
liminary to  the  final  question:  Where  and 
what  is  this  super  reality,  this  permanence, 
this  acceleration,  this  unification  of  force 
and  vitality?  There  is  but  one  answer — 
Germany  and  *'Kultur."  We  say  the  Ger- 
man worships  the  State.  He  does  not — 
he  worships  Germany.  The  State  is  but  a 
physical  expression  of  the  great  super  real- 
ity of  which  it  is  the  symbol.  To  bring  out 
this  thought  and  thus  connect  Germany 
with  super  reality  is  the  work  of  the  mod- 
ern German  historian.  He  starts  from  the 
crude  historical  beginnings  of  the  German 
race,  and  shows  how  it  has  assimilated  and 
incorporated   all   the  elements   of  earlier 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  13 

civilization  and  given  them  permanence. 
Everything  thus  flows  into  Germany  and 
becomes  a  part  of  "Kultur."  The  State 
has  thus  become  the  physical  representa- 
tive of  the  great  super  reality  before  whose 
irresistible  power  all  else  must  crumble  and 
fade  into  nothingness.  Foreigners  miss  the 
point  of  this  stimulating  doctrine  by  count- 
ing noses  to  see  which  nation  has  the  larger 
number  of  great  men.  But  it  is  not  credit 
for  the  origin  of  new  ideas  on  which  the 
German  advocate  rests  his  case.  Germany 
is  the  great  assimilator  of  ideas,  which  re- 
main isolated  entities  until  they  find  their 
place  in  German  culture.  All  is  grist  to 
the  German  mill  and  serves  for  the  exalta- 
tion of  Germany  to  a  higher  plane. 

Thus  far  I  have  tried  to  impress  but  a 
single  point  in  German  thought  involving 
a  marked  contrast  to  English  philosophy. 
Instead  of  energy  gradually  dissipating  it- 
self, leaving  a  huge  concentrated  mass  of 
dead  matter,  it  is  energy  that  grows,  con- 
centrates and  surmounts,  leaving  the  dead 
institutions,  traditions  or  philosophies  to 
be  dispersed  and  subordinated.    There  is 


14  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

then  a  higher  unity  becoming  apparent, 
which  shows  itself  as  cooperative  action. 
This  pulse,  which  sweeps  all  along  in  spite 
of  themselves,  finds  expression  in  the  State, 
whose  superiority  is  even  now  recognized; 
and  when  still  higher  forms  of  concentra- 
tion appear  this  institution  will  be  the  one 
current  into  which  all  life  flows. 
y^  This  is  the  new  political  philosophy 
whose  creeds  and  dogmas  run  counter  to 
our  accepted  notions.  I  have  no  desire  to 
defend  this  view  of  life,  but  rather  to  ex- 
plain what  is  gained  by  its  acceptance,  and 
point  out  how  its  seeming  evils  and  defects 
are  guarded  against.  It  should  be  recog- 
nized that  this  super  pulse  has  no  con- 
sciousness, and  hence  no  feeling  and  no 
morality.  State  decisions  are  good  or  evil, 
but  never  right  or  wrong.  The  agent  of 
the  State  may  do  wrong,  and  hence  be  sub- 
ject to  punishment.  But  of  the  act  of  the 
State  there  is  but  one  valid  judgment: 
Did  it  produce  adjustment  and  hence  in- 
crease the  vitality  and  concentration 
needed  for  growth?  Then  it  is  good. 
Were  the  opposite  true  the  evil  must  be 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  15 

righted  by  a  reversal  of  the  earlier  de- 
fective decision.  Policies  become  law 
through  their  success.  No  other  judgment 
is  valid. 

But  this  viewpoint  will  shock  the  adher- 
ents of  ancestral  creeds  even  less,  perhaps, 
than  that  which  I  am  about  to  make.  All 
ideals  and  end  philosophies  must  be  dis- 
carded as  representing  static  concepts  that 
mar  the  evolution  of  the  super  soul.  If  an 
individual  accepts  an  ideal  and  works  for 
its  realization,  it  is  good  only  so  long  as  he 
and  the  national  super  reality  of  which  he 
is  a  manifestation  do  not  change.  Any 
evolution  of  himself  or  of  the  communal 
spirit  makes  the  old  ideal  or  end  bad,  and 
thus  forces  him  either  to  abandon  it  or  rec- 
ognize it  as  an  obstacle  that  must  be  dis- 
placed as  society  advances.  The  idealist 
and  the  end  philosopher  are  always  behind 
the  age  worshiping  the  has-been  or  might- 
be  instead  of  the  becoming.  The  move- 
ment of  the  national  pulse  should  be  the 
guide  for  individual  action,  and  not  per- 
sonal judgments,  aims,  or  emotions.  We 
move;  we  go;  we  grow;  that  we  move,  go 


i6  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

and  grow  is  the  test  of  superiority,  and  not 
the  end  towards  which  we  are  moving. 

This  reversal  of  accustomed  views  seems 
to  leave  us  without  a  guide,  with  no  stabil- 
ity or  animating  force.  But  the  change 
brings  consolations  as  well  as  dangers. 
The  new  viewpoint  is  difficult  to  gain,  yet 
it  may  be  claimed  that  by  this  other  route 
all  of  the  old  results  are  attained  and  a  rich 
surplus  acquired  in  addition.  Let  me  il- 
lustrate: Suppose  the  aim  is  to  raise  the 
religious  life  of  the  community.  A  mis- 
sionary might  do  this  by  setting  up  definite 
ends  and  ideals  towards  which  each  indi- 
vidual should  strive.  But  if  the  world  is 
dynamic  each  year  would  increase  the  lack 
of  adjustment  between  the  desired  end  and 
the  evolving  national  pulse;  each  year 
would  see  more  dissipation  of  energy  due  to 
this  maladjustment  until  death  and  dissolu- 
tion result.  The  ideal  may  seem  glorious 
to  live  for,  but  in  the  end  we  and  it  must  die. 
Again  we  have  the  old  story  of  the  dissipa- 
tion of  energy  and  the  concentration  of 
matter,  for  what  is  an  ideal  or  end  out  of 
harmony  with  vital  processes  but  a  dead 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  17 

incumbrance  that  lowers  and  devitalizes? 
Contrast  this  attitude  with  that  of  a  man 
who  would  rid  the  world  of  some  disease. 
If  smallpox  or  fever  is  eliminated  we 
merely  have  more  life.  The  healthy  per- 
son lives  more  abundantly;  yet  nothing  is 
done  to  fix  the  end  toward  which  he  moves 
or  the  ideals  that  inspire  him.  Everyone 
moves  on  more  rapidly,  more  smoothly,  and 
more  in  harmony  with  the  output  of  others' 
energy.  The  individual  is  happy  and  the 
State  thrives.  What  more  can  be  asked? 
There  is  a  single  thought  behind  these 
examples.  The  present  is  a  pulse  of  which 
there  are  antecedents  and  consequents. 
Which  of  these  is  the  better  object  of  study, 
and  which  gives  the  firmer  basis  of  judg- 
ment as  to  social  good?  If  we  modify  the 
antecedent  the  effect  is  directly  measurable 
in  the  vitality  and  growth  of  the  super 
pulse  of  which  we  are  a  part.  The  em- 
phasis of  antecedents,  then,  shows  a  growth 
of  social  as  opposed  to  personal  ends,  while 
a  consideration  of  ends  subordinates  the 
social  and  vital  to  the  personal.  In  a 
crude  primitive  society  the  dominance  of 


i8  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

the  personal  over  the  vital  may  be  justi- 
fied, but  in  each  epoch  of  advance  the  ante- 
cedent of  action  becomes  clearer  and  more 
measurable,  while  the  attainment  of  per- 
sonal ends  becomes  a  useless  dissipation  of 
energy.  Surely,  then,  in  our  advanced 
state  we  are  justified  in  a  radical  break  with 
old  concepts,  that  we  may  have  life  and 
have  it  more  abundantly. 

Here  are  two  philosophies.  The  one 
judges  conduct  by  its  antecedents  and 
causes;  the  other  by  the  ideals  or  ends  to 
be  attained.  To  study  ends  is  an  old  voca- 
tion, and  out  of  it  has  come  our  fixed,  dog- 
matic attitudes,  and  cramping  concepts  of 
art  and  life.  In  the  old  thought  we  shoot 
at  marks  even  if  we  know  they  are  out  of 
range.  But  all  science  relates  to  ante- 
cedents and  causes.  The  events  of  yester- 
day and  the  pulse  of  to-day  are  under  our 
observation;  from  our  knowledge  of  them 
comes  our  advance  to  new  levels  of  intelli- 
gence and  activity.  And  what  are  these 
guiding  principles  of  action  based  solely  on 
past  and  present  events  and  with  no  slip- 
pery elements  of  an  unsurveyed   future? 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  19 

A  German  would  reply  in  three  words — 
Dienst,  Ordnung,  and  Kraft,  The  best 
translation  of  these  terms  which  I  can  sug- 
gest would  be  service,  conformity  and 
growth.  We  miss  the  vital  point  in  the 
German  view  when  we  start  with  Kraft 
and  call  it  force.  Kraft  is  really  the  final 
stage  of  evolution;  it  is  a  mark  of  superior- 
ity only  as  the  preceding  stages  have  been 
faced  and  surmounted.  The  first  and  pri- 
mary word  in  the  new  German  philosophy 
is  Dienst,  not  Kraft,  Here  the  German 
claims  a  superiority  over  the  English  view 
of  life.  The  first  question  of  an  English- 
man is,  "What  am  I  to  get  out  of  it?" 
This  judgment  is  not  to  be  interpreted  in  a 
bad  sense,  but  merely  shows  that  he  has  a 
measured  attitude,  summing  up  the  per- 
sonal advantages  and  disadvantages  of  his 
acts  before  decision  is  made.  The  Ger- 
man, however,  holds  that  the  sacrifice  of 
self-interest  to  the  higher  social  life  is  the 
first  duty  of  a  man,  and  that  no  personal 
motive  should  weigh  in  the  scale  against  it. 
Indeed,  to  talk  of  a  super  man  is  not  Ger- 
man; the  author  of  this  phrase  did  not 


20  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

catch  the  true  spirit  of  his  countrymen. 
Service,  and  not  domination  is  their  first 
principle;  and  this  is  made  a  vital  part  of 
each     child's     education.     The     German 
boy   learns   to   serve   before  he   learns   to 
think.     His  freedom  comes  only  with  ma- 
turity,   not  with   learning   how   to   walk. 
Long  years  of  implicit  obedience,  quick  re- 
sponse to  command,  the  subordination  of 
self,  respect  for  authority — all  this  disci- 
pline  and   more   is   imposed  on   a  child; 
through  it  his  character  is  made.    We  are 
likely  to  overlook  this  emphasis  of  service 
and  think  obedience  is  forced  on  subjects 
by  State  authority;  but  the  present  war,  if 
nothing  else,  should  show  the  falsity  of  this 
superficial  view.     Service  is  eager,  genu- 
ine, and  heartfelt.    The  spirit  of  calcula- 
tion   and    self-aggrandizement    is    absent 
when  the  higher  interests  of  Germany  are 
endangered,  or  when  the  cultural  life  of 
the  people  is  threatened.    The  goal  of  the 
German  may  be  wrong,  but  his  motive  is 
genuine  and  unselfish. 

The  second  basis  of  German  culture  lies 
in  what  they  call  Ordnung.    This  means 


CULTURE  AND  WAR         21 

stability  of  institutions  if  we  think  of  re- 
sults, but  there  is  more  than  mere  stability 
involved.  It  includes  all  the  arrange- 
ments and  methods  by  which  the  civil  life 
expresses  itself  in  an  orderly  way.  It  will 
not  do  to  translate  Ordnung  by  our  phrase 
"law  and  order,"  because  with  us  this 
merely  means  the  submission  to  recognized 
authority.  The  law  may  be  wrong  and  the 
submission  may  be  servile,  as  when  a  court 
interferes  to  break  up  a  strike.  Such  in- 
vasion of  public  rights  we  call  *4aw  and 
order"  and  tamely  submit  to  the  evils  it  im- 
poses. But  Ordnung  with  the  Germans 
involves  a  much  higher  thought.  It  means 
the  kind  of  a  rule  that  increases  adjust- 
ment, the  regulation  that  promotes  pros- 
perity. It  implies  not  merely  a  submission 
to  State  regulation,  but  covers  every  area 
of  life,  and  thus  gives  to  the  service  of  the 
individual  the  higher  meaning  that  the 
new  culture  demands.  Ordnung  is  thus 
not  "law  and  order,"  but  an  arrangement 
of  life  and  activity  by  which  our  inner 
emotions  correspond  to  our  outer  condi- 
tions, giving  rise  to  a  harmonious  current 


22  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

of  progress  and  growth.  If  these  two  con- 
cepts— Dienst  and  Ordnung — are  mastered, 
the  meaning  of  Kraft  becomes  intelligible. 
Kraft  is  the  measure  of  Dienst  and  Ord- 
nung, Public  service  and  complete  ad- 
justment are  to  be  judged,  not  by  some 
superimposed  end  or  ideal  that  cramps  as 
approach  is  made,  but  by  the  acceleration 
and  effectiveness  of  the  national  pulse  in 
putting  aside  the  remaining  obstacles  to 
progress.  The  national  pulse  must  grow, 
surpass,  and  conquer;  or  it  must  stagnate 
and  finally  dissolve  into  its  elements.  Suc- 
cess and  decay  are  the  only  measures  of  na- 
tional efficiency.  The  pulse  that  domi- 
nates and  absorbs  other  pulses  becomes  the 
super-pulse;  its  Ordnung  alone  is  worthy 
of  admiration,  and  its  service  alone  be- 
comes a  permanent  source  of  satisfaction. 
The  duty  of  the  individual  is  the  duty  of 
accelerating  and  augmenting  the  national 
pulse,  and  not  of  fixing  its  goal.  This  is 
the  only  rule  of  personal  conduct,  the  only 
morality  if  action  is  to  be  judged  by  its 
antecedents,  and  not  by  its  results.  Shall 
we  move  towards  God  and  be  content  that 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  23 

God  approves,  or  must  we  confine  our  ef- 
forts to  some  goal  that  we  can  see,  appreci- 
ate, and  finally  reach?  Is  the  pleasure  of 
doing  and  growing  greater  than  that  of 
reaching  ends?  Did  God  work  six  days  on 
some  definite  plan  that  could  be  perfectly 
realized,  or  was  there  more  to  do  on  the 
seventh  day  than  on  the  first  because  His 
concept  had  grown  so  rapidly  that  the  uni- 
verse was  less  complete  than  before? 
These  are  the  problems  that  separate  from 
each  other  two  concepts  of  life.  As  the 
view  clears  we  leave  the  confusion  of  the 
past  and  rise  to  the  new  level.  Good  and 
evil  become  clearly  recognized  only  as  the 
scales  fall  from  the  eyes  and  we  enter  a 
world  with  a  new  dimension.  Such  is  the 
dif]ference  between  the  old  and  the  new 
civilization,  and  the  extent  of  the  change 
involved  in  passing  from  the  one  to  the 
other. 

We  can  avoid  the  use  of  Kraft  with  its 
double  meaning  by  stating  the  three  Ger- 
man ultimates  as  service,  conformity  and 
achievement.  Service  is  effective  only  by 
conforming  to  natural  law,  and  its  success 


24  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

measured  in  present  product  is  achieve- 
ment. We  often  hear  our  culture  con- 
trasted with  theirs  in  the  number  of  great 
men  each  civilization  has  produced.  In 
this  list  are  put  only  the  great  discoverers  of 
truth.  This  method  of  judging  might  be 
accepted  by  a  few  of  the  older  generation  of 
Germans  who  are  still  proud  of  Kant,  He- 
gel, and  Goethe;  but  I  feel  sure  the  newer 
and  at  present  dominant  thought  would  re- 
fuse to  accept  the  test.  German  thought 
has  changed  its  emphasis  from  discovery  to 
achievement.  He  who  turns  the  force  of 
nature  into  useful  channels  gets  the  praise 
and  holds  positions  denied  the  mere 
scholar.  Service  and  conformity  thus  pro- 
duce immediate  results;  the  life  of  the 
State  is  broadened  and  the  level  of  culture 
heightened  by  each  new  application  of  sci- 
ence to  everyday  affairs.  The  national 
pulse  gains  impetus  by  each  conquest,  and 
the  absorption  of  the  one  in  the  all  becomes 
more  apparent.  Happy  is  he  who  so  lives 
that  the  whole  nation  profits  by  his  deeds. 
As  contrasted  with  this  subordination  of 
the  person  in  the  State  through  service, 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  25 

conformity  and  achievement  the  English 
ideal  is  that  of  self-interest  and  personal 
salvation.  We  contrast  not  objective  good 
and  evil,  but  subjective  right  and  wrong. 
Right  is  thus  a  personal  emotion,  not 
an  objective  conformity  to  natural  law. 
From  interest  and  right  we  go  to  freedom, 
and  measure  our  advance  not  by  achieve- 
ment, but  by  our  power  to  isolate  ourselves 
from  the  social  pulse,  and  to  resist  the  on- 
flow that  submerges  the  individual  under 
the  current  of  conformity.  Our  heaven  is 
a  hiding-place  for  saved  individuals,  not 
the  unification  of  the  dominant  currents  of 
the  universe.  We  are  moral  in  the  sense 
of  conformity  to  custom  and  tradition; 
Germans  are  moral  in  the  sense  of  conform- 
ity to  natural  law.  They  live  in  the  pres- 
ent; we  live  in  the  past.  This  ancient  goal, 
fixed  and  institutionalized  has  nothing  in  it 
that  did  not  lie  in  an  initial  golden  age. 
We  drop  back  and  recover  but  do  not  go 
ahead.  The  long,  weary  tramp  of  the  ages 
only  leads  to  what  our  forefathers  had. 
All  this,  pretty  as  a  picture,  is  static,  dead, 
hopeless,  when  compared  with  a  vital  evo- 


26  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

lution  that  leads  to  the  great  unknown  and 
burns  its  past  to  get  more  fuel  for  present 
progress.  To-morrow  is  not  yesterday  re- 
lived, but  a  ceaseless  flow  drawing  all  life 
together,  yielding  joy  through  the  increase 
of  its  speed.  If  the  planets  move  but  never 
arrive,  why  should  not  life  also  have  its 
measure  in  growth  and  acceleration? 

Thus  far  we  have  had  to  do  with  the  bet- 
ter side  of  German  development  and  with 
the  elements  in  German  culture  that  stand 
in  contrast  to  our  ideas.  As  a  philosophy 
it  is  a  vital,  economic  interpretation  of  so- 
ciety to  be  contrasted  with  materialism, 
mechanism,  and  finalism.  Force  is  pic- 
tured in  it  as  growth,  economy,  and  organ- 
ization instead  of  a  concept  of  repellent 
units  that  dissipate  while  matter  aggre- 
gates. I  am  charmed  by  this  philosophy, 
especially  when  it  is  expounded  by  an  elo- 
quent professor.  Then,  in  turn,  I  am  bit- 
terly disappointed  to  see  what  a  small 
product  comes  from  the  mill.  The  initial 
chapters  of  such  a  book  stir  the  soul,  but 
when  you  read  on  the  discussion  drifts 
from  some  world  vision  to  the  settlement 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  27 

of  some  insignificant  German  problem.  A 
really  world  view  the  new  German  has  not 
yet  attained.  He  either  slips  back  to  the 
old  philosophical  attitude;  or  one  is  disap- 
pointed to  find  that  his  only  interest  seems 
to  be  in  current  questions.  All  this  is  in- 
telligible when  one  reflects  that  German 
thought  is  not  a  unified  whole,  but  merely 
a  cyclonic  upheaval,  the  force  of  which  is 
not  yet  spent.  The  best  parallel  is  the 
early  stages  of  the  French  Revolution, 
when  new  ideas  were  blended  with  old  tra- 
ditions in  a  most  fantastic  manner.  Such  is 
the  course  of  all  revolutions.  A  philos- 
ophy half  understood  and  poorly  applied; 
a  goal  partly  seen  and  wrongly  interpreted; 
an  enthusiasm  eagerly  spent  on  great  and 
small  objects  alike;  an  intense  nationalism 
so  blind  that  it  thinks  itself  to  be  a  world 
vision — these  are  blended  in  all  radical 
movements,  and  are  the  source  at  once  of 
their  power,  their  extravagance,  and  their 
failure  to  create  immediate  transforma- 
tions. 

Were  these  changes  in  thought  merely 
German  we  might  seek  to  crush  them  out  as 


28  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

the  aristocrat  sought  to  crush  the  French 
Revolution;  but  the  forces  that  make  for 
the  new  German  culture  are  world-wide, 
and  their  ultimate  success  can  be  as  little 
hindered  as  could  the  French  Revolution. 
-'^We  save  our  energy,  vitality,  and  our  civi- 
lization not  by  opposing  change,  but  by 
understanding  its  antecedents  and  by  re- 
ducing the  shock  of  the  transition  to  a  new 
status.  The  world  must  accept  German 
culture,  just  as  it  was  forced  to  become 
democratic.  But  it  must  do  more  than 
that,  for  this  culture  is  not  a  goal,  but 
merely  a  stage.  Much  that  Germany  re- 
jects in  its  radical  upheaval  must  be  rein- 
corporated in  the  super-culture.  Ger- 
man thought  is  thus  the  initial  stage  of  a 
new  evolution  of  thought  and  life.  We 
are  static;  they  are  dynamic.  Where  they 
have  gone  on  and  hence  differ  from  us, 
they  are  in  the  right.  Where  they  are 
wrong  is  where  they  still  hold  identical 
views  with  those  prevailing  in  the  Anglo- 
American  world.  We  do  not  see  this  be- 
cause we  consciously  misinterpret  their 
philosophy  so  as  to  give  a  basis  for  our  ha- 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  29 

tred  of  coming  change  as  personified  in  na- 
tional differences. 

These  facts  can  be  brought  out  only  by 
analyzing  the  German  defense  of  culture 
and  nationalism.  The  essential  element  of 
a  culture  philosophy  is  the  growing  super-" 
pulse  which  in  its  victory  absorbs  and  con- 
serves everything  else.  In  contrast  to  this, 
nationalism  involves  a  struggle,  a  defeat, 
and  annihilation  of  the  weaker  unit.  It  is 
the  philosophy  of  hate,  of  opposition,  and 
of  material  triumph.  We  have  the  same 
thought  in  the  doctrine  of  biologic  strug- 
gle, which  our  leading  thinkers  accept  with 
the  eagerness  of  a  German  patriot.  We 
kill  Indians  as  ruthlessly  as  they  kill  Bel- 
gians, and  justify  ourselves  on  the  same 
grounds.  The  good  plant  drives  out  the 
bad  plant;  the  good  man  advances  by  the 
elimination  of  his  weaker  adversary.  The 
German  patriot  says  we  advance  through 
war;  his  English  compeer  holds  that  ad- 
vance is  through  struggle.  The  difference 
in  these  two  attitudes  is  slight.  If  prog- 
ress is  a  struggle,  the  good  advancing  only 
through  the  elimination  of  the  weak,  war 


-f 


30  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

is  a  blessing,  and  so  is  disease,  hardship  and 
grinding  poverty.  The  only  question  is 
whether  it  is  more  humane  to  kill  people 
outright  by  bullets  and  shrapnel,  or  to 
starve  them  by  low  wages  and  bad  housing. 
I  have  wandered  from  my  theme  to  make 
clear  the  similarity  of  German  and  English 
views  in  the  field  where  both  nations,  being 
static,  permit  the  cruel  grind  of  circum- 
stance to  determine  survival.  In  express- 
ing this  static  war  philosophy  two  words 
are  used  by  the  German — Entartung  (de- 
generation) and  Krieg  (struggle).  War, 
we  are  told  by  a  unison  of  voices  that  makes 
it  seem  national,  is  a  purging  process  by 
which  the  weak  and  defective,  losing 
ground,  disappear.  The  small  nations 
and  the  peaceful  nations,  lacking  vigor, 
are  static  or  degenerating.  To  reincorpo- 
rate them  into  a  vigorous,  growing  nation  is 
thus  a  blessing,  even  if  some  hardship  en- 
sues. The  greater  vitality  due  to  this 
blending  and  unifying  process  soon  recoups 
the  loss  and  brings  additional  gains  in  the 
form  of  a  higher  culture.  A  small  culture 
is  impossible;  a  small  state  is  therefore  a 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  31 

degenerating  bane,  and  not  the  goal  of 
progress,  as  the  English  assume.  Culture 
is  Germany;  it  can  rise  to  new  levels  only 
as  Germany,  in  which  it  is  embodied,  ex- 
pands and  dominates.  Thus  a  gospel  that 
starts  with  culture  as  its  ideal  is  soon  trans- 
formed into  an  intense  nationalism  making 
war  an  instrument  of  advance. 

This  is  one  side  of  German  philosophy. 
Krieg,  or  struggle,  as  we  name  it,  is  the  sole 
cause  of  progress,  brought  by  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  unfit  that  war  pressure  creates. 
The  popular  contrast  to  this  is  Entartung, 
or,  as  we  would  say,  degeneration.  Strug- 
gle means  progress,  while  the  lack  of  strug- 
gle (peace)  is  the  source  of  retrogression 
and  decay.  A  long  peace,  says  a  book  at 
my  elbow,  is  the  worst  of  all  evils.  But 
we  do  not  need  to  go  to  German  literature 
to  find  staunch  advocates  of  this  view.  It 
is  what  we  called  the  biological  theory  of 
progress  if  taught  in  its  new  form,  and  the 
basis  of  history  if  the  doctrine  is  stated  as 
our  fathers  saw  it.  Every  nation,  the  his- 
torian tells  us,  has  its  period  of  youth  and 
decay.    The  seeds  of  decay  lie  in  the  es- 


A 


32  CULTURE  AND  WAR' 

sence  of  national  life,  and  sooner  or  later 
the  rotting  process  exerts  its  influence  and 
brings  its  dire  results.  The  moralist  and 
the  religious  teacher  are  sure  that  all  prog- 
ress is  vanity,  and  that  each  uplift  is  fol- 
lowed by  decay,  wreck,  and  ruin.  Even 
the  economist  thinks  prosperity  softens  a 
race  and  makes  it  unfit  for  competition 
with  neighboring  races.  "Three  genera- 
tions from  shirtsleeves  to  shirtsleeves"  is  a 
popular  adage,  showing  the  hold  the  tradi- 
tional view  has  on  the  public  mind. 

To  these  older  beliefs  the  new  science 
has  added  several  more,  and  so  revives  a 
doctrine  that  might  otherwise  have  fallen 
into  decay.  It  is  assumed  that  the  unfit 
breed  more  rapidly  than  the  fit,  and  tend  to 
dominate.  Race  suicide  is  another  la- 
mented evil.  Many  statistics  are  given  to 
show  that  the  intelligent  class  are  actually 
dying  out.  To  these  may  be  added  the  de- 
generate effects  of  extravagance,  vice,  and 
dissipation.  The  growth  of  income,  in- 
stead of  steadying  its  recipients  and  arous- 
ing more  motives  for  work,  is  assumed  to 
make  men  careless,  indifferent,  and  ineffi- 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  33 

cient  There  may  be  added  the  long  ti- 
rades against  the  modern  woman,  her  inde- 
pendence, and  her  self-assertion.  She  re- 
fuses to  fulfill  the  duties  of  motherhood 
when  life  is  made  pleasant  and  easy  by  the 
increase  of  income. 

This  is  a  meager  list  of  the  woes  that  the 
historian,  moralist,  and  social  philosopher 
find  to  follow  the  increase  of  prosperity, 
good  living  and  high  culture.  I  do  not 
wish  to  argue,  but  merely  to  point  out  that 
if  the  premises  of  this  philosophy  are  cor- 
rect, the  German  is  not  so  far  out  of  the  way 
when  he  would  displace  all  this  degenera- 
tion by  frequent  war.  So  long  as  our 
thinkers  can  find  no  ^^moral  equivalent  for 
war"  why  should  we  object  to  a  military 
system  that  accentuates  national  differ- 
ence, and  thus  by  its  frequent  wars  brings 
a  moral  uplift  to  each  race?  If  half  that 
has  been  said  is  true  of  the  moral  uplift 
taking  place  in  England,  France,  and  Rus- 
sia since  the  beginning  of  the  present  war, 
Germany  should  be  thanked  for  bringing 
on  so  great  an  awakening.  To  say  the 
least,  our  philosophy  in  this  respect  is  not 


h 


34  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

superior  or  different  from  that  of  the  Ger- 
man on  these  points.  We,  however,  are 
consistent  because  our  whole  philosophy  is 
based  on  the  concept  of  struggle.  If  hard- 
ship, subordination,  and  self-denial  form 
the  only  road  to  moral  integrity,  while 
peace,  love  and  culture  lead  to  stagnation 
and  decay,  America  must  degrade  her 
workers  to  gain  purity  of  soul.  The  Ger- 
man has  partly  broken  with  dead  material- 
ism of  this  sort,  and  it  is  only  where  he  has 
remained  static  that  his  concepts  resemble 
ours.  Yet  struggle  and  degeneration  are 
complementary  thoughts,  and  there  is  no 
escape  from  their  evils  without  a  complete 
transformation  of  our  ancestral  philosophy. 
German  thought  is  thus  a  composite  of 
two  antagonistic  elements.  Its  cultural 
philosophy  is  new  and  has  a  dynamic  basis. 
Were  Germany's  progress  determined  by 
this  philosophy  it  would  have  a  peaceful 
triumph  and  be  a  world  blessing.  But  the 
philosophy  of  conflict  with  its  battle-cries 
of  war  and  degeneration  holds  a  coordinate 
place,  causing  many  queer  blendings  of  the 
old  and  the  new.    Thus  the  elements  of  our 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  35 

own  philosophy  that  Germany  has  not  yet 
rejected  make  most  of  the  present  difficulty. 
Germany  as  culture,  and  Germany  as  a 
race,  seem  to  the  German  people  to  be  one 
concept,  and  will  in  their  minds  remain  one 
concept  so  long  as  the  physical  Germany  is 
repressed  by  foreign  antagonism.  The 
Germans  think  themselves  to  be  on  the 
defensive  in  this  and  previous  wars  be- 
cause of  their  past  suffering  from  inva- 
sion, and  because  present  Germany  is  less 
than  historic  Germany.  Continued  re- 
straints or  future  defeats  will  strengthen 
the  racial  spirit  at  the  expense  of  culture, 
while  an  expansion  of  Germany  beyond  its 
racial  limits  is  sure  to  repress  race  feeling 
and  increase  the  influence  of  culture.  The 
larger  Germany  must  come  to  an  under- 
standing with  the  Slavs,  Poles,  and  other 
races,  and  through  this  understanding  the 
opposition  of  race  interests  will  gradually 
disappear.  It  can  be  said  that  two-fifths 
of  the  German  people  are  in  thought  an- 
tagonistic to  the  military  policy  and  its 
emphasis  on  war  as  a  purging  process. 
Expanding  Germany  so  that  the  now  dom- 


36  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

inant  three-fifths  become  only  two-fifths  in 
the  larger  State  would  cause  the  cultural 
elements  to  dominate,  and  as  a  result  a  last- 
ing peace  would  be  attained.  Where 
States  are  small  and  formed  on  racial  lines 
the  opposition  of  interest  and  feelings  is 
greatest.  Here  the  philosophy  of  strug- 
gle has  its  greatest  hold  and  will  produce 
its  direst  effect  in  war.  Economic  and 
cultural  interests  are,  however,  broader 
than  racial  groups  into  which  the  world  is 
divided.  Where  they  dominate  States 
grow  in  size  and  race  feeling  is  elimi- 
nated. There  is  perhaps  room  for  a  half 
dozen  independent,  self-sufficient  States  in 
the  world;  but  not  for  the  many  scores  of 
small  States  which  the  persistence  of  na- 
tional boundaries  on  racial  lines  would  up- 
hold. 

What  has  thus  far  been  said  shows  the 
causes  of  present  controversies  and  the 
stakes  of  the  conflict.  The  essential  point 
is  this:  The  world  has  entered  a  new 
stage  in  its  social  evolution.  All  nations 
feel  the  new  world-pulse,  but  some  more 
than  others.    This  localizes  the  movement, 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  37 

putting  the  radicals  in  control  in  some 
countries,  the  conservatives  in  others.  Is- 
sues thus  get  a  national  coloring  while  the 
conflict  becomes  intense  over  problems  not 
pertinent  to  the  real  issue.  Every  great 
advance  of  this  kind  has  emerged  as  a  race 
movement,  and  in  its  early  stages  was  a 
patriotic  expression  of  national  feeling. 
The  most  notable  instances  are  Hebrew  re- 
ligion, Grecian  thought,  and  French  de- 
mocracy. In  each  case  the  national  phases 
of  the  new  movement  dominated  and  col- 
ored the  viewpoint.  Only  slowly  were  the 
general  aspects  developed  from  the  local. 
When  through  the  elimination  of  the  na- 
tional elements  people  learn  to  state  the 
new  thought  as  a  general  principle,  the  new 
acquires  a  world-wide  vogue.  Religion  is 
not  Hebrew;  the  intellect  is  no  longer 
Grecian;  democracy  is  no  longer  associated 
with  the  French  Revolution.  So  the  time 
will  come  when  we  can  appreciate  the  new 
culture  without  associating  it  with  Ger- 
many. If  thought  can  be  separated  from 
tradition,  the  Church  from  the  State,  and 
democracy  from  mob  rule,  culture  and  war 


38  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

may  be  separated,  bringing  as  great  a  revo- 
lution as  that  which  followed  any  of  the 
earlier  epochs. 

It  is  one  thing,  however,  to  state  the 
problem,  and  quite  another  to  show  how 
the  separation  may  be  effected.  We  cling 
to  old  views  and  cherish  ancestral  tradi- 
tion with  a  vigor  and  partisanship  that 
thwarts  earnest  endeavors  to  reconstruct 
national  views  along  sane  lines.  The  dif- 
ficulty of  the  transition  is  much  increased 
by  the  way  in  which  the  problem  is  faced. 
We  demand  a  cure-all  for  war — some 
simple  panacea  to  which  no  objection  can 
be  made.  To  this  but  one  reply  can  be 
given.  There  is  no  such  remedy.  The 
change  is  a  change  of  attitude  that  affects 
all  social  and  vital  relations,  some  more, 
some  less  fundamentally;  but  with  the  re- 
sult that  no  evil  is  completely  cured,  but 
that  many,  if  not  all  of  them,  have  their 
virulence  diminished.  What  evil  has 
Grecian  culture,  Hebrew  religion,  or  the 
French  Revolution  cured?  None,  we 
would  have  to  reply,  though  many  ills  have 
been  reduced.     So  will  it  be  when  culture 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  39 

dominates  over  struggle  instead  of  compro- 
mising with  it,  as  is  the  case  at  present. 
This  will  mean  that  new  outlets  of  energy 
are  found ;  that  the  interests  of  individuals 
will  conflict  less  than  before;  or,  better 
stated,  the  pressure  that  degenerates,  de- 
bases and  antagonizes  will  lose  much  of  its 
present  power. 

A  good  way  to  illustrate  this  thought  is 
to  state  the  contrast,  as  many  recent  writers 
have  put  it.  What  they  ask  is  the  moral 
equivalent  of  wars.  They  seek  a  new  mo- 
rality that  will  have  the  effectiveness  of  the 
old  without  the  brutal  struggles  war  im- 
poses. So  they  spend  their  time  contriving 
schemes  that  will  "harden"  people  as  war 
has  done,  but  produce  the  same  flow  of  en- 
ergy and  the  same  disposition  on  the  part 
of  the  individual  to  "sacrifice"  his  inter- 
ests for  some  assumed  good.  Why,  it  is 
asked,  should  we  not  have  a  general  con- 
scription of  both  young  men  and  women, 
employing  them  to  build  roads,  dig  ditches, 
scrub  floors,  wash  dishes,  and  perform  other 
disagreeable  tasks  that  they  might  gain  the 
humility  of  person  and  the  moral  exalta- 


40  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

tion  that  war  is  assumed  to  give?  The 
reply  is  that  the  way  out  from  war  is  not 
moral  restraint,  but  economic  liberation. 
We  do  not  want  to  dig  ditches  and  scrub 
floors,  but  to  get  rid  of  disagreeable  tasks. 
The  new  culture  must  oppose  economic 
hardships  as  earnestly  as  it  opposes  war, 
and  for  the  same  reason.  We  get  culture 
as  we  intensify  our  wants  and  reduce  the 
amount  of  disagreeable  toil.  We  gain  as 
the  State  ceases  to  impose  burdens ;  we  rise 
as  the  Church,  ceasing  to  be  a  mere  consola- 
tion, becomes  the  medium  for  genial  enjoy- 
ment and  inspiration.  Hardship,  toil,  and 
exploitation  are  the  opposite  to  all  this,  and 
any  morality  that  makes  them  appear  to  be 
blessings  must  go  with  the  disappearance 
of  war  and  its  train  of  evils.  We  want  not 
a  restraining  morality,  but  activity;  not 
sacrifice,  but  joy;  not  toil,  but  harvest. 
These  are  the  essence  of  culture,  and  these 
are  the  motives  putting  society  on  an  eco- 
omic  instead  of  a  moral  basis. 
One  can  claim  all  this  unreservedly  and 
yet  admit  that  many  evils  that  now  exist 
will  not  be  removed;  yea,  some  of  them 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  41 

may  even  be  increased.  We  want  a  mo- 
rality and  a  state,  but  they  must  work  in  a 
new  direction,  gain  their  results  by  new 
methods.  What  we  want  them  to  do  we 
cannot  clearly  state,  because  we  cannot 
foresee  the  changes  that  culture  will  bring, 
and  how  old  evils  will  revitalize  them- 
selves under  the  new  conditions.  But 
these  facts  should  not  make  us  hesitate 
about  accepting  the  new  culture  and  work- 
ing enthusiastically  for  its  advance. 
Many  of  the  evils  that  prophets  predicted 
about  democracy  have  proved  true — some 
persist  in  exaggerated  forms.  But  this 
fact  has  not  stood  in  the  way  of  democratic 
advance,  nor  are  the  losses  so  great  as  to 
counterbalance  the  good  democracy  has 
brought.  So  with  culture;  it  must  be  seen 
to  be  appreciated  and  judged.  Its  evils 
doubtless  will  be  many,  but  how  to  curb 
them  we  can  only  know  when  the  new  cul- 
ture dominates  the  popular  thought.  A 
full  stomach  brings  many  diseases,  but  few 
would  be  willing  to  accept  starvation  as  a 
cure.  First  fill  the  stomach  and  then  learn 
how  to  control  the  appetite.     So  we  learn 


SL 


42  CULTURE  AND  WAR! 

to  appreciate,  to  love,  to  long  for  nature,  to 
feel  the  thrill  of  beauty,  and  then  learn  the 
self-control  which  the  new  situation  de- 
mands. "Sufficient  to  the  day  is  the  evil 
thereof."  If  we  seek  and  gain  the  good  of 
the  world,  the  accompanying  evils  can  in 
some  way  be  overcome. 

The  question,  "Where  can  we  look  for 
a  moral  equivalent  of  war?"  can  be  an- 
swered only  by  dividing  the  problem  into 
two  parts.  We  need  a  new  man  and  a  new 
j^irpn.  The  new  man  cannot  fit  the  old 
viron,  nor  can  we  determine  what  the  qual- 
ities of  the  new  man  should  be  by  picturing 
him  against  a  background  of  present  con- 
ditions. We  must  get  the  new  viron  first, 
and  then  energize  and  educate  men  so  that 
they  will  respond  to  their  new  situation. 
The  important  point  to  remember  is  that 
we  already  know  what  this  new  viron 
should  afford  and  how  it  may  be  acquired. 
The  objective  side  of  the  new  world  is  al- 
ready discernible,  as  are  the  means  of  its 
attainment.  The  evil  of  the  old  viron  may 
be  expressed  in  one  word — poverty.  We 
get  the  key  to  its  elimination  when  we  real- 


I 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  43 

ize  that  poverty  is  not  due  to  the  lack  of 
inherited  talent,  but  to  bad  external  condi- 
tions. The  theory  that  hardship  produces 
character  seems  like  satire  when  we  realize 
that  poverty  is  the  most  brutal  and  wide- 
spread hardship,  and  that  its  victims  are  al- 
ways those  who  have  the  least  character. 
A  certain  minimum  of  income,  much 
larger  than  the  day-laborer  now  receives,  is 
a  necessary  prerequisite  to  character-build- 
ing; no  nation  can  give  character  to  its 
people  till  the  load  of  poverty  is  taken  from 
their  shoulders.  Fortunately  the  increase 
of  productive  power  permits  the  attain- 
ment of  this  minimum.  A  new  social  level 
is  now  possible  upon  which  a  society  may 
be  built  without  the  woe  that  blocked  ear- 
lier progress.  Do  not,  however,  under- 
stand me  to  say  that  while  the  lack  of  in- 
come prevents  character,  the  pressure  of 
income  will  insure  character.  Income  is 
merely  a  condition  to  the  appearance  of 
character,  not  its  cause  or  source.  The  ob- 
jective is  merely  the  soil  in  which  the  spir- 
itual may  grow. 
We  get  much  nearer  the  source  of  char- 


/• 


44  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

acter  when  we  view  it  as  an  index  of  health 
rather  than  of  income.  Only  as  income 
blossoms  in  health  can  we  measure  its  bene- 
fits. Only  as  it  undermines  health  by  its 
dissipations  can  we  measure  its  evils.  In- 
come separates  society  into  two  parts — 
the  health  seekers  and  the  pleasure  seekers. 
The  one  growing  in  character  survives ;  the 
other  degenerates  and  disappears.  The  in- 
crease of  income  thus  gives  us  a  type  of 
elimination  that  works  as  rigorously  as 
war,  without  its  crudeness  and  brutality. 
Health  culture  is  thus  the  prime  form  of 
culture,  and  only  as  its  conditions  become 
clear  can  an  effective  elimination  take 
place  that  will  check  dissipation  and  vice. 
Health  motives  are  far  the  most  effective; 
they  have  the  advantage  that  they  enforce 
themselves. 

Each  decade  gives  a  clearer  presentation 
of  health  needs  and  a  better  appreciation 
of  advantages.  More  knowledge  is  doubt- 
less coming,  but  even  if  no  more  than  ex- 
ists at  present  were  attainable  we  have 
only  to  wait  its  general  diffusion  to 
attain  a  standard  of  vigor,  economy,  and 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  45 

temperance  that  contrasts  sharply  the 
low  level  of  the  past  with  the  brighter  fu- 
ture ahead.  Few  realize  the  enormous 
change  in  attitude  that  will  result  because 
they  fail  to  see  that  the  lack  of  character 
now  so  manifest  is  largely  the  result  of  the 
shortness  of  human  life  and  the  prevalence 
of  disease.  An  average  life  of  less  than 
thirty  years  has  already  been  lengthened  by 
a  half.  We  may  soon  hope  for  a  life  of 
sixty  years  for  those  who  reach  the  mar- 
riageable age.  This  will  mean  that  chil- 
dren will  arrive  at  maturity  before  parents 
lose  their  productive  power.  There  will 
then  be  no  slump  in  family  standards, 
which  results  from  the  early  disability  of 
parents  and  the  necessary  exposure  of  chil- 
dren to  the  evils  of  self-support.  Family 
life  will  thus  be  a  sustaining  force  that  will 
elevate  each  generation  above  its  predeces- 
sor. From  income  we  move  to  health,  and 
from  health  to  a  purer  family  life.  Thus 
will  the  attractive  forces  of  culture  work 
out  a  salvation  without  struggle  or  hard- 
ship of  any  sort.  A  self-sustaining  upward 
current    is    created    that    carries    with    it 


46  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

all  who  have  health,   income  and  enter- 
prise. 

To  these  motives  must  be  added  another 
force  w^ell-grounded  in  human  nature, 
v^hich  can  be  relied  on  to  make  effective 
the  trend  towards  social  regeneration. 
Adam  Smith  was  right  in  claiming  for 
sympathy  as  fundamental  a  place  as  that 
given  to  self-interest.  Sympathy  now 
shows  its  influence  in  every  decision  the 
group  makes ;  and  if  not  morality  itself,  as 
Adam  Smith  claimed,  it  is  at  least  the  basis 
on  which  morality  rests.  As  an  element  in 
evolution  its  influence  is  mainly  seen  in  the 
problems  of  rehabilitation  that  must  be 
faced  in  any  epoch  of  social  advance. 
Were  survival  determined  by  struggle 
alone,  the  weak  would  be  wiped  out  in  a 
brutal  fashion.  Unfortunately  the  weak 
in  this  brute  struggle  are  the  great  mass  of 
mankind.  The  dominant  tenth  have  more 
power  in  struggle  than  the  remaining  nine- 
tenths.  Misery,  poverty,  and  exploita- 
tion are  necessary  results  through  which 
happiness  and  culture  remain  the  posses- 
sion of  the  favored  few.    Yet  in  heredity 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  47 

this  depressed  mass  have  the  same  mental 
and  physical  qualities  as  their  masters. 
The  determining  factor  of  struggle  is  not 
that  of  character,  but  of  external  advan- 
tage, either  in  material  prosperity  or  in 
education. 

In  opposition  to  these  tendencies  human 
sympathy  softens  the  hardships  of  the  un- 
fortunate, and  increases  the  relative  num- 
ber of  those  gaining  enough  mastery  over 
nature  to  participate  in  the  national  cul- 
ture. With  the  growth  of  economic  wel- 
fare more  effort  is  expended  on  endeavors 
to  rehabilitate  the  weak,  and  the  measure 
of  their  success  is  larger.  Instead  of  the 
tenth  that  brute  struggle  would  put  at  the 
top,  we  have  perhaps  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
population  sufficiently  nourished  and  pro- 
tected to  participate  in  the  social  advance 
of  the  nation.  This  change  is  the  measure 
of  human  sympathy  as  an  upbuilding  force. 
If  such  an  advance  has  been  made  under 
the  bad  social  conditions  of  the  past,  we 
may  hope  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant 
when  a  substantial  majority  of  the  people 
will  feel  the  force  of  the  new  impulse  that 


/ 


48  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

culture  evokes.  When  this  happens  the 
political  structure  on  which  society  rests 
will  be  radically  altered.  Steady,  ration- 
alized progress  will  displace  the  spasmodic 
efforts  of  advance  we  now  make.  New 
problems  of  rehabilitation  can  then  be 
faced  with  the  assurance  that  at  least  nine- 
tenths  of  the  population  may  be  so  freed 
from  the  evils  of  vice  and  poverty  that 
motives  of  self -improvement  dominate. 
Should  this  happen,  the  remaining  tenth, 
the  really  defective,  can  be  removed  from 
society  to  be  tenderly  cared  for,  and  cease 
to  be  a  menace  to  social  advance. 

Human  nature  is  not  bad,  but  good.  Its 
dominant  motives  are  the  result  of  a  long 
period  of  favorable  evolution,  and  show 
their  vigor  when  external  conditions  per- 
mit. The  fundamental  wrongs  lie  not  in 
human  nature,  but  in  the  defective  organ- 
ization of  society.  It  is  a  new  society,  not 
a  new  heredity,  that  we  need — new  social 
bonds,  and  not  new  personal  traits.  Self- 
interest,  the  yearning  for  life  and  sym- 
pathy, are  thus  the  integrating  forces  on 
which  the  initial  uplift  of  society  depends. 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  49 

It  would  be  a  mistake,  however,  to  assume 
that  they  are  all  of  human  nature.  There 
are  disintegrating  as  well  as  integrating 
forces.  Of  these  the  more  prominent  are 
passion,  greed,  and  fear.  Hate  is  not  a 
trait  in  human  nature,  but  fear  may  readily 
become  hate  where  social  groups  contend 
fiercely  for  the  mastery.  Hate  is  fear  plus 
struggle;  and  its  disintegrating  force  is  ap- 
parent in  all  tribal  organizations  that  come 
to  us  from  the  primitive  world.  It  is  an 
acquired  attitude  and  would  disappear 
were  the  social  units  of  the  world  so  organ- 
ized that  struggle  ceases.  Greed  also  is 
not  a  personal  trait,  but  is  the  outcome  of 
a  defective  social  organization  permitting 
wealth  and  want  to  exist  side  by  side. 
Greed  flowers  in  an  aristocracy  and  in 
regions  under  autocratic  control.  In  a 
democracy  its  force  is  weakened,  and  its 
power  would  be  broken  if  a  state  of  com- 
fort were  attained  by  all.  Sex  passion  is 
likewise  disintegrating  in  a  society  where 
personal  indulgence  gives  the  motive  for 
struggle  and  aggression.  Where  one  sex 
is  the  prey  and  the  other  the  master,  passion 


50  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

rules,  and  sex  slavery  produces  the  evils  of 
over-population. 

These  disintegrating  elements  dominate, 
not  on  their  own  right,  but  through  defec- 
tive social  organizations  that  encourage 
them  and  restrain  the  counter  traits  of  self- 
interest,  self-conservation  and  sympathy. 
The  picture  of  human  nature  that  we  call 
to  mind  should  not  be  of  a  depraved  nature 
controlled  by  hate  and  greed,  nor  of  a  spir- 
itual nature  that  knows  only  love  and 
beauty.  Both  elements  are  present;  the 
one  or  the  other  dominates  as  it  is  favored 
or  repressed  by  the  prevailing  social  organ- 
ization. We  should  not  think  of  humanity 
moved  by  irresistible  tendencies  like  those 
of  physics;  its  forces  should  be  pictured 
like  those  of  biology,  where  dominant  and 
recessive  characters  contend  for  the  mas- 
tery, and  the  success  of  each  group  is  de- 
termined by  vironal  conditions.  Society  is 
the  determiner,  and  on  its  decisions  de- 
pends the  control  or  lack  of  control  of 
given  traits.  That  under  .certain  condi- 
tions a  given  trait  does  not  appear  is  no  evi- 
dence of  its  non-existence.    The  recessive 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  51 

traits  of  one  society  become  the  dominant 
motives  of  its  successor.  To  social 
changes,  therefore,  we  must  look  for  the  re- 
vival of  seemingly  lost  traits,  and  not  to  the 
selection  of  individuals  in  whom  some 
traces  of  desired  characters  appear.  Eu- 
genics might  give  us  a  different  man  with 
other  dominant  and  recessive  traits;  but  to 
social  changes  we  must  look  for  the  domi- 
nance of  desired  traits,  and  for  the  stability 
of  those  institutions  that  promote  culture, 
cooperation,  and  general  prosperity. 

To  the  degree  that  fear,  greed,  and  sex 
create  the  dominant  motives  for  social  ac- 
tion, life,  vigor  and  sympathy  are  re- 
pressed by  the  tribal,  class  and  race  antag- 
onisms which  primitive  passions  evoke. 
Struggle  is  ever  present,  and  in  its  train 
come  the  evils  that  arise  in  a  divided  so- 
ciety with  its  caste  traditions.  Servant  and 
master,  lord  and  retainer,  capitalist  and 
laborer,  Jew  and  Gentile,  man  and  woman, 
indicate  the  oppression  and  contrast  that 
military  struggle  evokes.  The  crust  of 
prejudice  and  tradition  remains  firm  long 
after  societies  have  become  democratic  and 


52  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

industrial.  We  are  in  a  new  regime,  but 
are  yet  fettered  by  the  feudal  bonds  that 
persist  as  the  basis  of  character,  morality 
and  religion.  Until  these  elements  are 
clarified  and  harmonized  with  our  in- 
dustrial life,  no  systematic  advance  can  be 
made. 

To  get  a  pure  industrial  life  does  not 
consist  in  the  wiping  out  of  the  traits  on 
which  military  rule  depends,  but  in  evok- 
ing traits  a  military  state  represses.  This 
evoking  force  is  culture.  In  the  new 
world  culture  is  not  ideal  dreaming.  It  is 
the  motives  leading  to  public  service,  a  joy 
in  others'  welfare,  an  interest  in  what  is  to 
be  instead  of  what  has  been.  Culture  is 
thus  zeal,  not  enjoyment;  self-subordina- 
tion, not  self-dominance.  The  super-man 
is  servant,  not  ruler;  creator,  not  recipient. 
The  change  sought  lies  not  in  heredity,  nor 
alone  in  the  environment,  but  in  the  ac- 
quired traits  aroused  by  education  and  per- 
sonal contact.  The  rigid  customs,  tradi- 
tions, and  habits  of  thought  brought  over 
from  the  realm  of  struggle  lose  their  def- 
inite cohesions  and  flow  on  harmoniously 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  53 

with  the  larger  pulse  in  which  they  are  in- 
corporated. Mobility  is  the  goal  of  the 
change;  vitality  its  means  and  culture  its 
essence.  The  person,  lost  in  the  onward 
flow,  gets  his  joy  in  a  service  that  helps  the 
super-pulse  to  grow.  Life  is  measured  by 
the  super-life  which  self-yielding  pro- 
motes. This  new  view,  like  the  natural 
theology  of  our  fathers,  seeks  to  show  that 
the  ultimates  of  nature  are  benign.  Na- 
ture is  not  "red-toothed"  and  hostile. 
Struggle  and  hardship  are  not  the  sponsors 
of  progress,  but  its  deadly  foes. 

When  the  origin  of  degeneration  and  de- 
pravity in  bad  vironal  conditions  becomes 
plain,  to  discuss  them  again  is  only  to  re- 
peat what  has  already  been  said.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  degeneration  is  dissipation  due 
to  sudden  changes  in  material  wealth  before 
culture  has  had  time  to  create  safeguards 
against  the  wrong  use  of  income.  It  is  not 
therefore  intrinsically  bad^  but  merely  the 
first  stage  in  a  forward  movement.  The 
spendthrift  comes  first;  culture  follows; 
and  then  the  missionary  is  needed  to  re- 
store and  elevate.     Does  each  epoch  begin 


\ 


54  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

with  the  attainment  of  culture,  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  development  of  religion,  and 
then  by  the  onset  of  dissipation  and  de- 
pravity? Or  does  each  epoch  start  with 
new  wealth,  its  misuse,  and  then  right  it- 
self through  culture  and  religion?  The 
one  outlook  is  as  doleful  as  the  other  is 
bright.  If  the  latter  view  is  correct  per- 
sonal morality  consists  in  keeping  healthy, 
in  self-preservation,  in  acquiring  culture, 
in  adjustment  to  nature,  and  in  industrial 
effectiveness.  True  morality  is  not  a 
means  of  salvation,  nor  has  it  the  keys  to 
some  distant  realm.  Its  test  is  in  to-day's 
events  and  in  to-morrow's  adjustment. 

Health  measured  in  these  terms  involves 
energy,  and  energy  is  the  forerunner  of 
imagination.  If  energy  and  imagination 
stand  in  a  causal  relation,  the  passage  from 
the  vironal  to  the  spiritual  world  is  easy 
and  natural.  Out  of  our  sense  concepts 
colored  and  transformed  by  the  imagina- 
tion we  gain  motive  and  zeal;  from  them 
will  is  an  outgrowth — not  the  will  to  resist 
and  deny,  but  the  will  to  do  and  achieve. 
When  will  becomes  achievement  it  loses  it- 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  55 

self  in  service.  Thus  the  current  of  per- 
sonal life  diverted  from  the  world  pulse  re- 
turns to  its  source  augmented  and  elevated. 
Each  personal  life  is  a  purifying  blend 
gaining  impetus  in  its  isolation,  and  return- 
ing to  accelerate  the  massive  pulse  from 
which  it  came.  The  vironal  yields  its  in- 
crease as  it  is  transformed  into  life,  and  life 
becomes  noble  as  its  energy  further  aug- 
ments the  world  pulse. 

Using  this  method  of  correcting  and 
completing  German  thought  its  fundamen- 
tal concept  may  be  stated  apart  from  its  na- 
tional elements,  and  thus  a  world  philos- 
ophy created.  Life  is  a  pulse,  not  an 
equilibrium.  Culture  is  the  unification 
and  acceleration  of  this  pulse.  It  is  the 
means  by  which  the  individual  life  is 
brought  in  harmony  with  the  world-pulse 
that  is  its  source  and  end.  At  any  given 
moment  this  pulse  has  a  level  tending  to 
draw  all  below  this  level  up  to  its  standard. 
Dissipation,  crime,  vice,  hate  and  antago- 
nism cannot  be  cured  by  acting  on  individ- 
ual cases,  but  by  the  acceleration  of  the 
world  pulse  that  draws  everything  up  to  its 


56  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

level  and  reincorporates  the  cross-currents 
in  the  onflow  towards  harmony  and  life. 
We  cannot  save  one  individual  except  by 
losing  others;  but  we  can  blend  groups, 
classes,  nations  and  races  into  larger  units 
where  interest  and  sympathy  dominate  over 
race  antagonism.  In  the  larger  units  thus 
created  fewer  people  will  be  defective  or 
dependent.  Social  salvation  is  measured 
by  this  relative  growth  of  the  normal  and 
the  increasing  pressure  they  exert  to  lift 
their  neighbors  to  their  level.  The  prob- 
lems of  this  uplift  are  economic,  vital  and 
emotional.  Trust  the  world-pulse  and  all 
is  well.  We  need  faith  in  budding  life, 
not  in  a  frozen  creed — a  new  social  philos- 
ophy with  purer  notions  of  God,  culture 
and  humanity. 

But  these  elements  and  this  faith,  impor- 
tant as  they  are,  show  less  than  the  whole 
truth.  Personal  duty,  personal  responsi- 
bility, and  personal  integrity  are  quite  as 
real  in  a  live  world  as  in  a  dead  one.  It  is 
their  office,  not  their  essence,  that  changes. 
The  duty  and  responsibility  of  the  normal 
consists  not  in  lifting  the  depraved  to  nor- 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  57 

mality,  but  in  raising  themselves  to  a  super- 
normal plane.  The  world-pulse  of  to-mor- 
row can  be  directed  only  by  a  deeper 
insight  into  world  processes  than  normal 
people  possess.  To  be  influential  one  must 
be  ahead  of  others.  The  old  morality  was 
a  morality  of  the  low  for  the  benefit  of  the 
high.  The  new  morality  frees  the  weak 
from  restraint,  thus  letting  them  rise  to 
their  natural  level.  It  imposes  restraint  on 
the  good  in  proportion  as  they  are  better. 
The  more  surplus  one  creates  the  less  is  his 
own.  The  great  bow  before  the  humble, 
to  whom  comes  the  joy  their  betters  earn. 
The  term  super-man  is  a  new  phrase,  but 
the  thought  it  conveys  is  the  essence  of  the 
old  thought.  Nominally  the  old  morality 
made  all  serve,  but  practically  it  led  to  the 
subordination  of  the  weak  to  the  strong. 
The  great  were  practically  free  from  the 
sacrifice  and  hardship  imposed  upon  their 
neighbors.  They  lived  for  themselves,  not 
for  others.  Reverse  this  attitude  and  the 
flow  of  goods  that  accompanies  it  creates  a 
new  morality.  The  lower  classes  are  freed 
from  restraint.    They  live  to-day  and  have 


58  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

a  return  for  each  day's  effort  in  the  day's 
joy.  They  approximate  the  level  that  the 
world-pulse  creates  for  them.  They  live 
longer  and  better  by  moving  v^ith  the  world 
flow. 

Recently  a  prominent  bishop  said  that 
low  wages  was  never  the  cause  of  a 
woman's  fall.  She  could,  if  she  would,  re- 
sist temptation.  Admitting  this  fact,  what 
has  she  or  society  gained  by  her  meager  ex- 
istence and  shortened  life?  Woman's  first 
duty  is  the  reproduction  of  the  race.  Soci- 
ety advances,  not  as  she  shows  a  power  to 
resist  the  tendency  for  which  she  was  cre- 
ated, but  as  it  establishes  conditions  that 
permit  her  to  become  a  mother.  The  ma- 
terial level  necessary  for  health  and  child- 
bearing  is  the  nation's  responsibility.  The 
producing  of  a  superior  child  is  her  share. 
The  moral  energy  of  women  should  not  be 
wasted  to  produce  results  that  cultural 
means  can  attain.  Men,  in  turn,  are  re- 
sponsible not  for  yielding  to  temptation, 
but  for  not  growing  to  a  full  manhood. 
Society  should  hold  us  up  to  its  level.  We 
should  then  rise  above  it    We  build  char- 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  59 

acter  not  as  we  say  "no,"  but  as  breaking 
with  tradition  we  rise  to  higher  levels,  and 
through  discovery  and  achievement  create 
conditions  elevating  all  humanity  to  a  new 
plane.  What  personal  effort  gains  is  held 
through  social  co-operation.  Society  is  at 
fault  when  its  members  fall,  but  the  favored 
person  is  responsible  if  he,  and  through 
him  society,  does  not  rise. 

When  we  pass  in  conclusion  from  these 
social  problems  to  questions  of  the  individ- 
ual life  there  is  little  to  be  gained  from 
German  literature.  Our  own  attitude, 
though  defective,  here  affords  a  better  basis 
for  an  advance.  The  reason  is  that  our 
movements,  wherever  they  are  not  based  on 
traditional  views,  are  religious,  and  there- 
fore broader  than  the  German.  We  iso- 
late the  Church  from  the  State,  while  in 
Germany  religion  is  absorbed  in,  or  sub- 
ordinated to,  the  national  life.  They  have 
nothing  beyond  the  ideal  of  Germany, 
while  we  perceive  the  higher  ideal  even  if 
creed  and  custom  destroy  its  validity. 
Every  one  here  nominally  serves  God,  even 
though  his  effort  and  devotion  are  dedi- 


6o  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

cated  to  the  service  of  Baal.  We  increase 
these  difficulties  by  isolating  Church  from 
State.  Thinking  of  these  institutions  as 
two  entities  we  try  to  serve  both.  The  re- 
sult is  a  degradation  of  religion  to  the  basis 
of  an  incidental  interest,  allowing  patriot- 
ism to  dominate  over  or  suppress  religious 
convictions.  This  isolation  and  this  sub- 
ordination of  the  higher  to  the  lower  we 
must  remove  in  order  to  gain  the  consist- 
ency of  thought  that  a  broader  culture  de- 
mands. Patriotism  and  religion  are  not 
different  emotions,  each  with  its  basis  in 
our  inherited  psychology.  They  are  the 
same  psychology  working  under  different 
vironal  conditions.  Patriotism  is  spiritual 
emotion  under  conditions  of  struggle;  reli- 
gion is  these  same  personal  emotions  un- 
trammeled  by  fear,  hate  and  race  feud.  A 
national  regard  for  a  tribal  god  is  not  reli- 
gion, but  merely  intensified  patriotism; 
even  if  we  may  call  these  imperfect  mani- 
festations of  fervor  religion,  it  is  a  dwarfed 
religion  that  resembles  the  possible  ideal 
religion  as  little  as  a  mountain  shrub  re- 
sembles the  oak  of  the  valley. 


CULTURE  AND  WAR  6i 

We  must  have  a  world  religion  or  no  re- 
ligion. The  world-pulse  must  draw  all  to 
itself  and  realign  the  various  regions  in  co- 
operative economic  units,  instead  of  race  or 
language  units.  When  this  transformation 
comes  our  thought  will  be  blended  with, 
and  not  so  antagonistic  to,  the  Germans. 
We  differ  from  them  in  race,  language  and 
history;  we  are  the  same  in  heredity  and 
economic  interest.  Struggle  and  patriot- 
ism arise  from  our  differences;  religion, 
peace  and  prosperity  from  our  similarities. 
The  promised  day  comes  when  we  refuse 
longer  to  put  localized  patriotism  above  an 
eager  service  of  humanity.  The  world- 
pulse  must  win ;  we  must  yield  and  be  ab- 
sorbed in  its  current.  The  higher  nation 
is  not  the  one  which  plants  its  battle  flag  on 
the  ruins  of  its  neighbor,  but  that  which 
earns  its  neighbor's  gratitude  by  service  and 
good-will.  Shall  we  yield  when  we  might 
by  arms  become  the  victor?  Yes.  "He 
who  would  save  his  life  must  lose  it"  is  as 
true  of  nations  as  of  individuals.  Salva- 
tion is  worthless  that  comes  only  to  you,  to 
me,  or  to  our  race.    Nations  gain  only  as 


62  CULTURE  AND  WAR 

they  lose  themselves  in  the  world-pulse  that 
grows  until  it  becomes  God-like.  When 
we  leave  the  bounds  of  personality  and  na- 
tion all  is  peace,  harmony  and  effectiveness. 
We  will  still  grow  but  our  growth  enlarges 
not  only  ourselves  but  the  universe  as  well. 
God's  growth  makes  Him  human;  our 
growth  makes  men  divine.  Words  lose 
their  meaning  when  differences  fade  in  the 
radiance  of  the  joy  that  is  to  be. 


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